Hamden primary debate: Garrett, Morton face off in Democratic mayoral primary debate

Incumbent Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett and primary challenger Walter Morton IV on Friday debated finances, schools and police — and even which candidate likes animals — in the run-up to Tuesday’s Democratic primary election.

Garrett, a University of Michigan graduate and a former small business-owner who was elected to her first mayoral term in 2021, spoke about her family and her experience on the Hamden Legislative Council and as the chair of education.

“I have three kids — two in Hamden public schools, one who just graduated from Hamden High (School). I was previously a small business-owner,” Garrett said. “And that makes me qualified to right the ship of Hamden, which we’ve been working diligently to do.”

Morton, a lifelong Hamden resident who graduated from the town’s public school system in 2009 before joining the military, followed Garrett’s introduction with his own opening statement.

“I think it’s a great place to live,” Morton, who is a member of the Hamden board of education, said. “I actually don’t think we’re too far off from making the changes we need to get to where we’d like to be.”

Here are the highlights from the debate, which was sponsored by the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs Committee:

Ten-year vision for Hamden 

LG: “My vision for Hamden is continued financial growth. We’ve done so much work to increase our bond rating, to grow our grand list, and grand list growth takes time. It takes sustained effort over the years, and that is some of the work that we’ve just started. So if we want Hamden to be a place where we have lower taxes, where we have a vibrant community, (and) we have infrastructure that supports multi-modal transportation, it’s really going to take economic development to get us there.” 

WM: “I want it to be like the community it was when I grew up as a child — a place that was affordable, safe and had great public schools. It attracted my family here generations ago and kept us here. It’s been good to us and provided us with the lifestyle we have and I know that’s important for the future growth in this town, which we so desperately need. … What I’d propose to do as mayor is a very intentional and aggressive economic development plan that starts with a complete rewrite and modernization of our planning and zoning regulations to make it modern and easier for businesses to come here.”

Finances

LG: “(We) need to stabilize taxes so that they (business owners) can plan for their future… Getting our financial house in order is our first step to solving that problem.”

WM: “First thing I would say is, it’s pretty disingenuous for the mayor to say that she stabilized taxes when what she’s done has made us the second highest tax municipality in Connecticut. The second part is, we have to be more aggressive in our tax base, attracting some businesses. First thing I would do is that — I released in my 10-point, 10-week plan website, MortonForMayor.com — that I’ve established an economic advisory board made up of small-business owners, larger-scale business owners, DMS sites and feedback from the town to make their lives easier.”

Public safety 

LG: “We do work with a lot of organizations to provide community policing. And we’re seeing improvement. We’re seeing improvement in our plazas. We are seeing improvement in southern Hamden. There are a couple areas where it’s gotten a little bit worse. And so that really includes motor vehicle thefts. And so we worked with the police department to get a grant through the state of Connecticut to address motor vehicle thefts and have an additional ability to get some deterrent controls. … We’ve had amazing success with hiring. We have hired over 30 officers in the last two years, which is unheard of in a lot of other communities. So, I think that we’re doing very well there. And of course, we have room for improvement. We have more to do. And I’m committed to making sure that people feel safe in their community.”

WM: “As someone who lives in southern Hamden — my parents live in southern Hamden — I haven’t seen these improvements and changes, frankly. And I’ll also say … the mayor’s saying that she’s hired 30 officers. And what she’s also failing to tell you is that because of her policies and statements and how she was on council, what she ran with on her slate and appointed to the police commission, 27-plus officers retired in the past several years. So much so that over 30 members of our police force today have less than two years of experience. And it’s become very challenging as far as training, staffing and having folks walking their beat and know the community and understand it.”

Animal shelter prospects

WM: “Its own animal shelter? No. I do support Hamden getting an animal shelter and I think moving forward with a regional partner to provide that shelter to help offset the costs to build it, to maintain it, to staff it. There’s a lot of things that folks would like to do … but we have to be smart, we have to be savvy, we have to be frugal. I’m not looking to get in there and jack up taxes and another four or five mills to pay for all these things because people will run out of town, businesses are going to leave and are not going to come here. So you have to strike a balance, I’m supportive of an animal shelter concept … if it happens to be located in Hamden and we can share it with a partner, by all means I would support that, but I want to be smart and honest and let folks know that I’m trying to do the best that I can.”

LG: “We have located a place where we can have an animal shelter. I think it is off the beaten path. It is away from a lot of housing. It has connections to public utilities. I think we can have a good opportunity for an animal shelter there. I think it’s important to have an animal shelter for Hamden — it’s something we are required to do as part of state law. It is something that animal lovers would like to see in Hamden. What’s really great about the animal-loving community is that they’re willing to do a lot of fundraising for us … they will fundraise to build an animal shelter. Part of the reason my opponent doesn’t want an animal shelter is because he’s not really fond of animals, a lot of people in this community are.”

WM: “I’ll take the high road. I don’t know how the town would afford this, you want us to spend $55 million on a community campus and now she (Garrett) wants to build an animal shelter, get ready to have your taxes go up under the current administration if she gets reelected. I’m going to be honest with folks … and give you an answer that’s unpopular and that you don’t want to hear. I’m glad to hear that she’s made some progress as she promised an animal shelter in her first one hundred days in office, and we’re still waiting to see that. But I’m going to be honest about my intentions, my plans and where I stand on the issues.”

Friday’s debate preceded the Democratic primary election, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at nine designated polling locations across Hamden.

Polls are open between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. 

HQNN.org staff contributed to this report.